The Threat at Our Doorstep: An Analysis of Chinese Influence in the Caribbean

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the PRC has provided record amounts of international development loans and established itself as a first-resort financer for many low- and middle-income countries. The Caribbean has become a new region of interest for Chinese investors, and American disengagement from the region has allowed China the perfect opportunity to expand its influence. The Caribbean holds a strategic position on the southeastern maritime border and has strong links with U.S. commercial and security priorities. Given the PRC’s history of debt entrapment, meddling with local politics, and media manipulation as a consequence of increased investment, a growing China in the region would pose significant threats to the U.S. and its Caribbean neighbors. Thus, I ask the question: “Does Chinese involvement in Caribbean affairs present issues of security, sustainability, and sovereignty to the U.S. and Caribbean nations?”

To answer this question, my thesis employs seven case studies, Cuba, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic – the region’s largest economies. My results demonstrate concerning signs of Chinese influence in the region, including growing national debt as a result of unsustainable loans in Cuba and Jamaica; Chinese acquisition of minority stakes of national economic sectors in Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and the Dominican Republic; Chinese acquisition of or interference with telecommunications sectors in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago; political destabilization and Chinese support of authoritarian leaders in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname; the housing of private and extraterritorial worker enclaves in Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname; delayed or poor-quality infrastructure projects in Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic; rising ethnic tensions due political influence or crime of imported Chinese workers in Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic; and Chinese inability or unwillingness to hire local labor for projects in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

This thesis organizes the past, current and future trends that Chinese investment poses to American and Caribbean nations’ national security, economic sustainability, and political stability. I conclude my research by suggesting five recommendations for the U.S. government, in cooperation with allies in the region, to take to curb further Chinese influence.